Social network size in adolescents at clinical high risk for psychosis

Adolescents and young adults at clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis report few close friends. Social support has been linked to conversion to psychosis and psychosis relapse in CHR individuals. Expanding earlier research on loneliness and friendships at a single timepoint, this study described composition and changes in social network and its association with clinical and cognitive symptoms among CHR adolescents.

Ninety five individuals (46 CHR individuals, 49 healthy volunteers) completed baseline and 1-year follow-up Social Network Index (SNI) evaluations and clinical interviews. Analyses first examined SNI size and composition across 10 categories (e.g., family, close friends, coworkers, classmates) between groups. Then, the relationship between SNI size and baseline social symptoms (i.e., paranoia, social anhedonia, social anxiety, social cognition), social function, and changes in symptoms and social networks over 1-year were examined within the CHR group.

CHR individuals showed smaller social networks overall, driven by fewer friendships and family relationships. Social cognition and social anxiety significantly related to SNI size at baseline, but social anhedonia and paranoia did not. SNI size related to social function, but with a modest effect size (r's = .45 and .56). Surprisingly, an increase in positive symptom severity related to an increase in familial but a decrease in coworker social network size.

The social support deficits in the CHR group were specific to relatives and friendships, with social anxiety and social cognition as implicated symptoms. Social relationships may serve as a promising early intervention target in individuals at CHR for psychosis.